1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable framework structures and, more particularly, to such structures that are used with a net to construct a goal for use in various sporting events. More specifically, the present invention relates to a portable soccer goal the frame of which is constructed of vertical, horizontal and inclined bracing members joined in the preferred configuration by a plurality of variously configured molded joint connectors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Outside the United States, soccer has long been the world's most popular sport. Inside the United States, the sport was virtually ignored throughout the 1960's and 70's. Beginning with the youth program in the 1980's, the popularity of soccer has dramatically increased achieving nationwide recognition in 1994 when the World Cup events were held in the United States.
Today soccer is in rapid pursuit of baseball as “a national pastime.” Its popularity has continued grow and has passed softball and touch football. According to statistics gathered by the Soccer Industry Council of America, soccer's popularity cuts across demographic and geographic lines. Females account for over half of the players, and California and New York, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio have the greatest percentage of children participating in the sport. Children of ages from 7 through 11 represent the single largest number of soccer players accounting for approximately 43% of the nation's players. The participants in the 7 through 17 age group represent over 70% of the nation's soccer players.
The rising popularity of the sport has resulted in the establishment of increasing numbers of recreational and competitive soccer teams. With the sport being taken more seriously, semi-professional coaches have been hired and practice regimens are scheduled. Fortunately, the required equipment for practicing is minimal in comparison with some other sports, with a soccer ball and a rectangular field area all that is necessary to participate. To hone soccer skills, a simulation of the goal area is needed to sharpen both goal-tending skills and goal-scoring ability. It is important that all three dimensions-height, width and depth of an official goal—be available during at least part of the practice sessions.
Because schools are in large part responsible for the awakening of children's heightened interest in soccer, school grounds are frequently the location of soccer practicing. Because the majority of schools are unable to provide great numbers of permanent soccer fields, most soccer teams and players must rely on portable soccer goals if such active practice sessions are to be provided on a regular basis.
Regulation soccer goals measure 24 feet by 8 feet, and providing such a large netted structure in a portable design has proven to be somewhat difficult. One solution has been to utilize basically the same components as in a permanent soccer goal with attachment to a wheeled foundation provided in the place of ground foundation structures. Such a goal is quite heavy and presents safety concerns to those around it.
One alternate solution has been the construction of soccer nets on site using a multiple component framework to which separate netting is attached. Once assembled, the framework design tended to simulate the more permanent soccer net structures by including a number of heavy, oversize components that were of marginal portability. By separating the net from the outer framework, the opportunities for inadvertent separation of the two components increased.
In addition to being of questionable portability, the semi-permanent wheeled nets and the use of heavy multi-component frames also present a safety risk when improperly installed or when used in a manner for which they were not designed. Such non-soccer activities have included using the structures for climbing or performing aerobatics which sometimes results in severe, even fatal, injuries. In one case, as one person climbed on the horizontal header of a 600 lb. steel goal post, the goal post tipped forward struck the head of a another person who was hanging from the header resulting in fatal injuries. At the time of the incident, this goal post was not properly anchored to the ground. In another case, a boy in California suffered severe and permanent trauma to the head when he was knocked unconscious by a falling soccer goal. This player was moving the goal into place with his teammates at the time of the injury.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) indicates that there are 12 million soccer players in the United States under the age of 18 who play soccer at least once a year. It also estimates that there are approximately 225,000 to 500,000 soccer goals in this country. Many of these are unsafe because they are not stable or are not properly weighted or anchored.
Injuries relating to soccer goals fall into the following categories most of which relate to portable goals. They include (a) goals falling onto people when they are moving the goal from one location to another, (b) people falling from goals while climbing or hanging from goals or nets, (c) goals falling on people who are pulling down or pulling on crossbars, (d) injuries or fatalities occurring as a result of running into goal posts, (e) goals falling over as a result of high winds or wind gusts and (f) cuts/abrasions resulting from sharp edges or jagged metal or wood pieces protruding from goal posts.
The CPSC reports that at least 21 deaths during the period 1979–1994 were associated with movable soccer goals. The mean age of the 21 subjects was ten years of age. Three additional fatalities involving children were documented from January 1993 through July 1994 by falling goal posts bringing the number of reported deaths to 24. In addition, an estimated 120 injuries involving falling goal posts were treated each year in U.S. hospital emergency rooms during the period 1989 through 1993. The CPSC has since recommended that goal posts not in use should be either chained to a fence or other permanent structure, placed goal-faced-down on the ground or disassembled for storage.
Because large number of children start playing soccer at a very young age, they improve significantly as they grow older. When at the earliest age, the children are small, and the soccer nets can be made in smaller sizes and placed on smaller than normal playing fields. As the children grow in age, size and skills, soccer goals and fields can be gradually increased in size. Thus there is a need for an improved soccer goal that is portable, adjustable in size and safely constructed and anchored, and it is to this need that the present invention is directed.